Naples is one of the oldest cities of the western world, whose current urban structure
retains elements of its long and eventful history. Founded by the
Ancient Greeks as "Νεάπολις",
Neápolis (New City), it held an
important role in Magna
Graecia and then as part of the Roman Republic in the central province of the
Empire. The city has seen a multitude of
civilizations come and go, each leaving their mark and now the
historic city centre is listed by UNESCO as a
World Heritage
Site.

Naples was preeminently the capital city of a kingdom which bore
its name from 1282 until 1816 in the form of the Kingdom of Naples, then in union with
Sicily it was the capital of the
Two Sicilies until the
Italian unification. Naples has
profoundly influenced many areas of Europe and beyond .

The city proper has a population of around 1 million people: Naples
is the most densely populated major city in Italy. The population of
urban area is estimated by
Eurostat to be 2.25 million, while the
Naples metropolitan area,
according to different sources, is the second after the
Milan metropolitan area (with 4,434,136 inhabitants
according to SVIMEZ DATA or 4,996,084 according to CENSIS
INSTITUTE) or the third (3.1 million inhabitants according to
OECD) most populated metropolitan area in Italy.

Naples is
ranked fourth in Italy, for economic strength, after Rome, Milan and
Turin.Naples is a thriving and cosmopolitan
metropolis, and is the world's 91st richest city by purchasing
power, with a GDP of $43 billion, beating the
economies of Bucharest and Zurich.The
port of
Naples is also one of the most important in Europe.
Even though the city has had a remarkable economic growth, and
unemployment levels in Campania and the
city have decreased since 1999, Naples is unfortunately still
characterized by political and economic corruption and a thriving black market empire. Italian mega-companies,
such as MSC, are headquartered in the
city. Since 1958, the city
hosts the Center Rai of Naples (media), while in the Bagnoli discrict there is a NATO
base.

Naples was the most
bombed Italian city of World War
II. In the twentieth century, first under fascism and
reconstruction following the Second World War built much of the
periphery. In recent decades, Naples has adopted a business
district (the Centro Direzionale)
with skyscrapers and infrastructure such as the TGV in Rome or in a
subway expansion: it will include half of the region. The
metropolis will host the IAC2012 and the Universal Forum of Cultures2013.

The years between 818 and 832 were a particularly confusing period
in regard to Naples' relation with the Byzantine Emperor, with feuding
between local pretenders to the ducal throne. Theoctistus was appointed without
imperial approval; this was later revoked and Theodore II took his place. However,
the general populance chased him from the city and instead elected
Stephen III, a man who minted
coins with his own initials not that of the Byzantine Emperor.
Naples gained complete independence by 840.

The duchy was under direct control of Lombards for a brief period, after the capture by
Pandulf IV of the Principality of Capua, long term rival
of Naples; however this only lasted three years before the
culturally Greco-Roman influenced dukes were reinstated. By the
11th century, like many territories in
the area, Naples hired Norman merecenaries,
the Christian descendants of the Vikings, to battle their rivals; Duke Sergius IV hired Rainulf Drengot to battle Capua for him. By
1137, the Normans had grown hugely in influence, controlling
previous independent principalities and duchies such as Capua, Benevento, Salerno, Amalfi, Sorrento and Gaeta; it was in this year that Naples, the
last independent duchy in the southern part of the peninsula, came
under Norman control. The last ruling duke of the duchy Sergius VII was forced to surrender to
Roger II, who had proclaimed
himself King of Sicily
seven years earlier; this saw Naples joining the Kingdom of Sicily, where Palermo was the capital.

Ferdinand IV was restored as king; however, after only seven years
Napoleon conquered the kingdom
and instated Bonapartist kings
including his brother Joseph
Bonaparte. With the help of the Austrian
Empire and allies, the Bonapartists were defeated in the
Neapolitan War and Bourbon Ferdinand
IV once again regained the throne and the kingdom. The
Congress of Vienna in 1815 saw
the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily combined to form the Two Sicilies, with Naples as the
capital city. Naples became the first city on the Italian peninsula
to have a railway in 1839 with the construction of the Naples–Portici line,
there were many factories throughout the kingdom making it a highly
important trade centre.

Architecture, features and city layouts

Naples has one of the greatest density of cultural resources and
monuments that include 2800 years of history (castles, fountains,
churches, ancient architecture, etc.): the most prominent forms of
architecture in Naples are from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The historic centre
of Naples is typically the most fruitful for architecture and is in
fact listed by UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site. A
striking feature of Naples is the fact that it has 448 historical
churches, making it one of the most Catholic cities in the world.

Naples is
well-known for its historic castles: the ancient Castel Nuovo is one of the most notable architectural
representatives on the city, also known as Maschio Angioino; it was built during
the time of Charles I, the first
ever king of
Naples. Castel Nuovo has hosted some historical
religious events: for example, in 1294, Pope Celestine V resigned as pope in a hall
of the castle, and following this Pope Boniface VIII was elected pope here
by the cardinal collegium,
and immediately moved to Rome.

The
castle which Nuovo replaced in importance was the Norman founded
Castel
dell'Ovo.Its name
means Egg Castle and it is built on the tiny islet Megarides, where the Cumaean colonists founded the city.The third castle of
note is Sant'Elmo which was completed in 1329 and is built in the
shape of a star. During the uprising of
Masaniello, the Spanish took refuge in
Sant'Elmo to escape the revolutionaries.

Churches, religious buildings and structures

Hosting the Archdiocese of Naples,
the Catholic faith is highly
important to the people of Naples and there are hundreds of
churches in the city. The Cathedral of
Naples is the most important place
of worship in the city, each year on September 19 it hosts the Miracle of
Saint Januarius, the city's patron saint. In the miracle which thousands of
Neapolitans flock to witness, the dried blood of Januarius is said
to turn to liquid when brought close to relics
said to be of his body: this is one of the most important
traditions for Neapolitans. Below is a selective list of some of
the best-known churches, chapels, monastery complexes and religious
structures in Naples;

Other features

There are various other interesting features of note around Naples.
Underneath Naples
there is a series of caves and structures created by centuries of
mining, which is in part of an underground geothermal zone. The general public are
able to go on tours of the underground and there is even a museum.
Aside
from the main piazza there are two
more in the form of Piazza Dante and Piazza
dei Martiri. The latter is somewhat controversial: it
originally just had a memorial to martyrs but
in 1866, after the Italian
unification, four lions were added, representing the four
rebellions against the Bourbons.

Founded in 1667 by the Spanish, the San Gennaro dei Poveri is a hospital for the poor which is still in existence
today. It
was a forerunner of a much more ambitious project, the gigantic
Bourbon Hospice for the Poor started by Charles
III. This was for the destitute and ill of the city; it
also provided a self-sufficient community where the poor would live
and work: today it is no longer a hospital.

Shown above are the thirty quarters of Naples: these thirty
neighbourhoods or "quartiere" as they are
known, are grouped together into ten governmental community
boards.

Climate

Naples enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate with mild, wet
winters and warm to hot, dry summers. The mild climate and
the geographical richness of the bay of Naples made it famous during Roman times, when emperors
chose the city as a favourite holiday location.

Unlike many northern Italian cities there are far fewer immigrants
in Naples. 98.5% of the people are Italians. In 2006, there were a total of 19,188
foreigners in the actual city of Naples; the majority of foreigners
are Eastern European, coming
particularly from Ukraine and Poland.
Non-Europeans in general are very low in number, however there are
some small Sri Lankan and
East Asian immigrant communities.
Statistics show that the vast majority of immigrants are female;
this is because male workers tend to head North.

Governance

Politics

Each of the 8,101 comune in Italy is
today represented locally by an elected mayor
and a city council, known as a
sindaco and informally called the first citizen. This
system or one very similar to it, has been in place since 1808 with
the invasion of the Napoleonic
forces. When the Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies was restored, the system was kept in place
with members of the nobility such as Dukes and Marquesses filling
the role. By the end of the 19th century as part of Italy, party politics had begun to emerge; during
the fascist era each commune was
represented by a podestà. During the post-war period, the
political landscape of Naples has been neither strongly right nor
left — both Christian democracts
and democratic socialists have
filled the position at different times with roughly equal
frequency. Currently the mayor of Naples is Rosa Russo Iervolino of The Olive Tree, she has
held the position since 2001.

Economy

Naples is
Italy's fourth most important city for economic strength, coming
after Rome, Milan and Turin. It
is the world's 91st richest city by purchasing power, with a GDP of
$43 billion. Were Naples a country, it would have the
world's 68th biggest economy, near the size of that of Qatar.The
economy of Naples and its closest surrounding area is based largely
in tourism, commerce, industry and
agriculture; Naples also acts as a busy
cargo terminal, and the port of
Naples is one of the Mediterranean's biggest and most
important. The city has had a remarkable economic growth
since the war, and unemployment in the region has gone down
dramatically since 1999. Naples used to be a busy industrial city,
though many of the factories are no longer there, and Naples is
still characterized by high levels of corruption and organized crime.

Electronics and aircraft industries

Naples
also hosted important electronics industries such as Olivetti research department in Pozzuoli, now dismissed. Also Naples is important for
its light aircraft industries
Partenavia and Vulcanair (nowadays both firms belong to
Vulcanair) and hosted several departments of big aircraft
industries of Aeritalia. Aeritalia then
joined with Selenia (that were a group of
electronic and radar defense military
industries) with the name of Alenia. Alenia
is still present in Naples, but its production relevance is
important but nowadays shrinking.

Manufacturing

The only
relevant industry of Naples remains actually the Alfa Romeo automobile factory at nearby Pomigliano
d'Arco; the word "Romeo" in the company name is a
reference to Neapolitan engineer Nicola
Romeo.

Food industry

One of the first large Italian companies producing canned
vegetables, Cirio, was founded in Naples.
Naples and the surrounding area also has a large number of smaller
firms manufacturing canned vegetables, mostly tomato sauce. Family-sized pasta
companies in Torre
Annunziata collapsed around 1949-1950 due to the rise of
industrial pasta makers in northern Italy.Only the slow food
typical artisan-made pasta in Gragnano survived and it is one of the most apprecciated
typical products of Naples surroundings.Fior di latte cheese is made in the territory
of Agerola, Lettere and Gragnano.

The wine
industry is also prevalent in the Naples area, mainly in Gragnano,
Lettere, Ercolano and Pozzuoli. Naples is also known worldwide for
Neapolitan coffee made with the historical Neapolitan flip coffee pot, which
then led to the creation of the espresso
coffee machine and Moka Express coffee pot. There are still some
little industries roasting coffee beans and
producing ground coffee to be used with Neapolitan coffee
machines.

Economic relevance

The economy is measured on a provincial level; the province of Naples is placed 94th out of
the total of 103 provinces in Italy in terms of gross value added. Statistics do not
include wealth generated by the black market or untaxed wages. It is not uncommon for Neapolitan workers to
move North because unemployment is at around 28%. However, the
unemployment level in Campania has been decreasing, and today is
only 11.2%. The business centre of Naples is the Centro Direzionale. This was built
only in recent times and features skyscraper technology designed by
Kenzo Tange; it is an attempt to
centralise and improve the business and economy of Naples, also
providing jobs with its hotels and shops.

In recent times, there has been a move away from traditional
agriculture-based economy in the province to one based on service industries. In early
2002 there were over 249,590 enterprises operating in the province
of Naples registered in the Chamber of Commerce Public Register.
This sector employs the majority of the people, though more than
half of these are small enterprises with fewer than 20 workers; 70
companies are medium-sized with more than 200 workers; and 15 have
more than 500 workers. Employment in the province of Naples in
different sectors breaks down as follows:

Transport

Naples is well connected in regards to major motorways, known in
Italy as autostrada.
From
Naples all the way north to Milan is the
A1 known as autostrada del
Sole (motorway of the sun), the longest transalpine motorway on the peninsula.There are
other autostrada from Naples too, such as the A3 which goes southwards down to
Salerno where the motorway to Reggio
Calabria begins, as well as the A16 which goes across
east to Canosa.The latter is called the autostrada dei
Due Mari (motorway of the Two Seas) because it connects the
Tyrrhenian
Sea to the Adriatic Sea.

The main
general train station of the city is
Napoli
Centrale, which is located in Piazza Garibaldi; another
significant station is the Napoli Campi Flegrei. Naples has
lots of narrow streets, so the general public commonly use compact
hatchback cars and scooters are especially common. Naples
is now connected to Rome by a high-speed
railway with trains running at almost , reducing journey time
to under an hour; the system was introducted in 2007.

Culture

Cuisine

The city
has a long history of producing a variety of famous dishes and wines; it
draws its influence from different civilisations which have ruled
the city at various times such as the Greeks,
Spanish and French.Neapolitan
cuisine emerged completely as its own distinct form in the 18th
century. The ingredients are typically rich in taste while
remaining affordable to the general populace.

Perhaps the best-known aspect of Neapolitan cooking is its rich
savoury dishes. Naples is traditionally held as the home of
pizza. This originated as a meal of the poor,
but under Ferdinand
IV it became better known: famously, the Margherita was named after Queen Margherita after a visit to the
city. Cooked traditionally in a wood-burning oven, ingredients are strictly regulated by a
law dating from 2004, and must be composed of wheat flour type "00" with the addition of flour type "0"
yeast, natural water, peeled tomatoes or fresh cherry
tomatoes, marine salt, and extra virgin olive oil. Spaghetti is
associated with the city and is commonly eaten with the sauce
ragù: a Neapolitan symbol is
folklore figure Pulcinella eating a plate of spaghetti. Others
include parmigiana di melanzane,
mozzarella, spaghetti alle vongole and
casatiello.

Naples also has some famous sweet dishes,
including colourful gelato, similar though
more fruit-based than ice
cream. Some of the pastry dishes include:
zeppole, babà, sfogliatelle and pastiera, the latter of which is prepared
especially for Easter. Another seasonal sweet
is struffoli, a sweet tasting
honey dough decorated and eaten around
Christmas.Naples is also worldwide famous
for its neapolitan coffee, made with historical neapolitan coffee pot called "cuccuma" or cuccumella, which then lead the invention of Espresso coffee machine and inspired Moka Express coffee pot. Many little industries
for roasting and grounding coffee beans mixed from the best coffee
qualities produced worldwide are present in the territory of
Naples.There are some beverages from Naples also: it produces
wines from the Vesuvius area such as
Lacryma Christi ("tear of
Christ") and Terzigno. Also from Naples is limoncello the highly popular lemonliqueur.

Film

Language

The city of Naples has developed its own language, the Naples
dialect, which is mainly spoken in the city, and the region of
Campania, has also been diffused in other
areas of Southern Italy. On October
14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan
language had to be protected.

Perhaps the most well known part of Neapolitan music is the
Canzone Napoletana
style, essentially the traditional
music of the city with a repertoire of hundreds of folk songs, some of which can be traced back to the
1200s. The songs O sole mio and
Funiculì
Funiculà are part of this style and are known far and wide
outside of Naples. The genre became a formal institution in 1835
thanks to the introduction of the annual Festival of Piedigrotta songwriting competition. Some
of the best-known recording artists in this field includes Roberto
Murolo, Sergio Bruni and Renato
Carosone. There are other forms of music played in Naples which
are not well known outside the area but hugely popular within it,
such as cantautore (singer-songwriter) and
sceneggiata, which has been described as a musicalsoap
opera; the most well known artist of this style is Mario Merola.

Since
1995, the historic centre of Naples has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, a programme
which aims to catalogue, name, and conserve sites of outstanding
cultural or natural
importance to the common
heritage of mankind. The deciding committee who evaluate
potential candidates described Naples' centre as being "of
exceptional value", and went on to say that Naples' "setting
onthe
Bay of
Naples gives it an outstanding universal value which has
had a profound influence".